A few days before Race 2 hit floors, Sonakshi Sinha opted out of the sequel, apparently due to date issues. At the same time, it was reported that Dabangg 2 director-producer Arbaaz Khan persuaded her to bid adieu to the film.

“It’s not true. We were waiting for the dates of Dabangg 2 to be
finalised. When the schedule was fixed, I spoke to Ramesh (Taurani; producer) and Abbas-Mustan and told them that it won’t be convenient for them if I juggled my dates between the two projects, as it would result in re-adjusting the schedules of the other stars in the film. So, it was done mutually. They understood my problem,” says Sonakshi.

Race 2 stars Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez and Deepika Padukone. Meanwhile, Salman Khan-starrer Dabangg 2 will go on floors from March 2012 onwards. “It’s very simple. I couldn’t do Race 2 only because of date issues. And that’s a problem I have been facing for a while now with so many projects coming along. What happened with Race is very unfortunate because I was looking forward to work with Abbas-Mustan and Rameshji because they are family friends and very nice people to work with,” she says.

The Dabangg girl also adds that there’s no issue with Abbas-Mustan due to her opting out at the last minute. “In fact, I spoke to them on Diwali and Eid and told them that I looked forward to working with them. And they were like, ‘is baar nahin hua, agli baar zaroor hoga (if things haven’t worked out this time, we’ll work on them next time for sure),” says Sonakshi, who will also be seen in Akshay Kumar -starrers Joker and Rowdy Rathore, besides starring opposite Ajay Devgn in Son Of Sardar.